May 22th: 2008 Goddess Event at Willoughby Golf Club.
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Summer program begins June 16th
Join us for 9 weeks of non-stop fun. We offer a wide variety of activities and field trips. At the club, our members will participate in fun games, arts & crafts, outside activities, tournaments and much more.
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What Else is Going On?
The 14th Annual Gala was a splashing success! With the theme of “Under the Sea,” we had scores of friends attend the event to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County. The new location of the Jupiter Island Beach Club was a perfect spot for fun. Thank you to all who made it a success, and mark your calendars for an encore on Jan. 31, 2009! Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5
Teen named Martin County’s Youth of the Year
STUART – With a passion for performance, community service and her fellow youth, LaTonia McColister (Pic) was named Youth of the Year for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County during an awards dinner Wednesday.
McColister, a 18-year-old senior at Clark Advanced Learning Center, garnered the honor for the second year in a row, thanks to logging more than a thousand hours of community service and presenting an impressive speech in front of a panel of impartial judges last month.
“Just by watching Toni, you could see she was speaking from the heart, and her experiences have touched her heart,” said Mat Churchey, the director of operations at the Clubs. “She is a great representative for our Clubs.”
Each of the Boys & Girls Clubs’ five branches – in Palm City, Hobe Sound, Indiantown, Port Salerno and East Stuart – nominated a teenager to compete for the honor.
Ranging in age from 13 to 18, the teens were judged on academic achievement, community service and leadership in school, at the Club and at home. Judges read two essays written by each nominee, and also awarded points based on poise and public speaking skills during their speeches.
This year’s judges were Hobe Sound civic leader Kathy Spurgeon; Bridget Baratta, the executive director of the Community Foundation of Martin County; Jennifer Jolly of the United Way of Martin County; Elizabeth Whittles of the Children’s Services Council of Martin County; and Steve Cargill, volunteer coordinator for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County.
McColister, now a part-time employee at the Palm City branch, had attended the Clubs since she was 5-years-old. With nearly half of her college education already completed, due to her dual enrollment at Clark, she will be the first person in her family to graduate from college. She plans to major in graphic design at Florida State University.
“I’ve seen so many kids that I’ve grown up with who aren’t doing anything with their lives,” she said. “My mentality is different from theirs.”
Indeed, along with helping fellow Club members each day with homework, McColister choreographs and coaches two hip-hop dance troupes at the Club, the X-Treme Dancers and the XL Dancers. She also volunteers to coach the Pop Warner Cheerleading squad and is active in her church, the Love Temple in East Stuart.
She is also the Boys & Girls Clubs’ representative with the Keystone Club, a community service organization run in collaboration with Clark Advanced Learning Center.
For McColister – and for the rest of the Youth of the Year nominees – the Boys & Girls Club is “a second home.”
During the judging, it was clear that the four other nominees were also impressive in their dedication to service and academics, as well as their ability to overcome difficult obstacles in their lives.
The other nominees were Ericka Williams of Indiantown, Jonathan Owens of East Stuart, Reanna Frazier of Port Salerno and Isaac Torres of Hobe Sound. Each nominee received free instruction from volunteers with ToastMasters of Stuart since December to improve their public speaking skills and poise.
In addition, each Youth of the Year nominee will receive a $50 savings bond, and McColister receives $500 toward college expenses from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County.
All five teenagers will also travel in March to Tallahassee, where McColister will compete against other Youth of the Year from Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the Southeast for additional scholarships and prestige.
